1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:03,240 We started talking last week about dreaming and, and what 2 00:00:03,240 --> 00:00:06,320 dreams we might or might not have for the year that's coming. 3 00:00:06,320 --> 00:00:09,640 This week we're reading about dreams and, and more than one 4 00:00:09,640 --> 00:00:11,240 dream we're taking a look at today. 5 00:00:11,600 --> 00:00:17,280 But this dream of, of Jacob that he had, it was at a low point in 6 00:00:17,280 --> 00:00:20,160 his life. He was running away because he'd 7 00:00:20,160 --> 00:00:23,640 lied to his father. He'd cheated his brother and his 8 00:00:23,640 --> 00:00:25,320 brother was threatening his life. 9 00:00:25,560 --> 00:00:28,520 Anyone have family problems? I hope you haven't arrived at 10 00:00:28,520 --> 00:00:31,640 the point where you're having to leave town because a sibling is 11 00:00:31,640 --> 00:00:34,240 threatening your life. But that's where Jacob was. 12 00:00:34,880 --> 00:00:41,760 And and all of this in spite of or in some ways because of the 13 00:00:41,760 --> 00:00:45,280 vision that God had given to his mother Rebecca when she said 14 00:00:45,480 --> 00:00:49,080 that Jacob would rule over his older brother Esau. 15 00:00:51,120 --> 00:00:53,720 Now he's are now Jacob again is on the run. 16 00:00:54,360 --> 00:00:57,320 He's sleeping outdoors. The best thing he can find for a 17 00:00:57,320 --> 00:01:00,600 pillow is a rock. And he lies down and he dreams 18 00:01:00,600 --> 00:01:03,000 the dream that Devin just read to us. 19 00:01:03,280 --> 00:01:08,080 So we're talking about that dream and and other God-given 20 00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:13,480 dreams because it is clear that this dream came to Jacob from 21 00:01:13,480 --> 00:01:17,760 God himself. It wasn't bad burrito, it wasn't 22 00:01:17,760 --> 00:01:20,800 stress and anxiety over his family situation. 23 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:26,000 It was divine inspiration, God working in his life, sharing 24 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:31,560 with some, sharing something with him that would have power 25 00:01:31,560 --> 00:01:37,400 in his life because Jacob's dream, Jacob's dream was 26 00:01:37,400 --> 00:01:41,200 God-given and God-given dreams have power. 27 00:01:41,680 --> 00:01:46,960 Now before I go any further than that, I want to talk about, just 28 00:01:46,960 --> 00:01:49,120 take a little bit of a moment for a disclaimer here. 29 00:01:50,440 --> 00:01:54,760 God-given dreams are frankly rare. 30 00:01:55,280 --> 00:01:58,800 This is not something anyone that is a follower of God, 31 00:01:58,800 --> 00:02:00,920 whether Jewish or Christian or otherwise. 32 00:02:00,920 --> 00:02:04,280 Anyone that's a follower of God would expect to get a God-given 33 00:02:04,280 --> 00:02:07,960 dream every night. There's a lot of folks that 34 00:02:07,960 --> 00:02:11,480 don't get God-given dreams their entire life. 35 00:02:12,200 --> 00:02:16,680 It's a rare kind of occurrence. One of the great spiritual 36 00:02:16,680 --> 00:02:21,440 writers and, and thinkers in the Christian faith is, is Teresa of 37 00:02:21,440 --> 00:02:26,520 Avila, Saint Teresa of Avila. And she had visions, she had 38 00:02:26,520 --> 00:02:29,000 dreams. She wrote these things down at 39 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:32,360 the direction of her superiors and shared them with others. 40 00:02:32,360 --> 00:02:35,480 And one of the things she said is that it's a dangerous thing 41 00:02:35,480 --> 00:02:39,400 in the Christian life to live for those kinds of things, these 42 00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:43,000 these dramatic spiritual experiences, whether it's dreams 43 00:02:43,160 --> 00:02:47,080 or visions or other kinds of spiritual experiences like that, 44 00:02:47,080 --> 00:02:50,880 that are, that are not typical and not ordinary. 45 00:02:51,360 --> 00:02:55,520 And one of the risks is we can come to live for those things 46 00:02:55,520 --> 00:02:59,040 instead of for God. We start seeking the experience 47 00:02:59,320 --> 00:03:04,200 rather than seeking God himself. One of the other dangers is that 48 00:03:04,200 --> 00:03:08,600 we can think that if we don't get those kinds of dreams, then 49 00:03:08,600 --> 00:03:12,960 God just must not speak to me or God must not care about me. 50 00:03:13,400 --> 00:03:15,800 God speaks to us in many different ways. 51 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:17,840 God speaks to us through scriptures. 52 00:03:17,840 --> 00:03:19,760 God speaks to us through other people. 53 00:03:19,920 --> 00:03:25,400 God speaks to us through through impulses and inclinations that 54 00:03:25,400 --> 00:03:28,040 might come to our hearts and to our minds. 55 00:03:28,040 --> 00:03:31,560 God speaks to us, hopefully through preaching and teaching 56 00:03:31,920 --> 00:03:34,720 of people around us. God can speak to us through 57 00:03:34,720 --> 00:03:37,680 books. God speaks to us through current 58 00:03:37,680 --> 00:03:41,280 events and, and I almost said newspapers, but I'm not sure 59 00:03:41,280 --> 00:03:44,080 even God speaking through newspapers anymore, you know, 60 00:03:45,280 --> 00:03:49,840 Internet. God speaks to us in many, many, 61 00:03:49,840 --> 00:03:54,360 many different ways. And, and one of the clearest 62 00:03:54,360 --> 00:03:58,120 ways is through the poor and the helpless and the outcasts who 63 00:03:58,120 --> 00:04:01,480 are around us. So if you're not having dreams, 64 00:04:01,480 --> 00:04:04,280 if you're not having dramatic spiritual experiences, that 65 00:04:04,280 --> 00:04:05,880 doesn't mean there's something wrong with you. 66 00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:07,800 It means those kinds of things are rare. 67 00:04:08,160 --> 00:04:10,960 The early desert fathers, some of them taught that these 68 00:04:10,960 --> 00:04:13,160 experience. This might have been Teresa as 69 00:04:13,160 --> 00:04:16,640 well that these types of experiences, dreams and visions 70 00:04:16,640 --> 00:04:20,200 and and and the very dramatic things God only gives people 71 00:04:20,320 --> 00:04:23,240 whose faith is so weak that they need something extra. 72 00:04:23,920 --> 00:04:28,000 So, so Jacob having a dream and others having dreams and having 73 00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:32,080 big dramatic spiritual experiences is not if if you 74 00:04:32,080 --> 00:04:34,680 don't get that, it's not a sign that there's something wrong 75 00:04:34,680 --> 00:04:40,080 with you want to say that because I've encountered folks 76 00:04:40,080 --> 00:04:42,640 that kind of had felt over the years like, oh, this kind of 77 00:04:42,640 --> 00:04:46,160 thing never happens to me. Am I, am I not really following 78 00:04:46,200 --> 00:04:49,400 Jesus? If you're following Jesus, God 79 00:04:49,400 --> 00:04:52,320 doesn't necessarily for everyone who's following Jesus 80 00:04:52,360 --> 00:04:55,280 communicate in this way. So don't sweat it, don't worry 81 00:04:55,280 --> 00:04:57,680 about it. But when we see these dreams, 82 00:04:57,680 --> 00:05:03,440 when we hear of these dreams, it is important for us to take note 83 00:05:03,840 --> 00:05:07,720 and to pay attention because partly because they are so rare, 84 00:05:08,600 --> 00:05:12,720 Jacob has had this dream. God felt fit for it to be 85 00:05:12,720 --> 00:05:14,640 included in the writings of Scripture. 86 00:05:14,920 --> 00:05:18,040 So it's something important for us to pay attention to. 87 00:05:18,200 --> 00:05:22,440 We're going to do that now as we look at the power of a God-given 88 00:05:22,440 --> 00:05:24,240 dream. And there's lots of different 89 00:05:24,240 --> 00:05:26,200 ways we can look at the power of a God-given dream. 90 00:05:26,200 --> 00:05:28,760 We're going to look at two ways here this morning. 91 00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:31,800 One of those, and the first is this, that the power of a 92 00:05:31,800 --> 00:05:37,640 God-given dream is hope. Here's Jacob fleeing for his 93 00:05:37,640 --> 00:05:42,080 life, running to find relatives that, as far as we know, he has 94 00:05:42,080 --> 00:05:45,200 never met before, in another land, in another country, 95 00:05:45,200 --> 00:05:49,240 traveling by himself through the wilderness, A dangerous prospect 96 00:05:49,240 --> 00:05:51,720 at any time. He had apparently had didn't 97 00:05:51,720 --> 00:05:54,520 have enough time to take much of anything with him at all. 98 00:05:54,640 --> 00:05:59,200 Because again, he's lying on the ground with a rock for a pillow, 99 00:06:00,640 --> 00:06:03,680 and God meets him there, and he has this dream. 100 00:06:04,520 --> 00:06:10,120 And in this dream, God renews for him, shares with him the 101 00:06:10,120 --> 00:06:14,080 covenant that he gave to his grandfather Abraham and to his 102 00:06:14,080 --> 00:06:21,040 father Isaac, men who probably had an almost mythical status in 103 00:06:21,040 --> 00:06:24,040 his mind. The stories that he must have 104 00:06:24,040 --> 00:06:27,840 heard from his father about his grandfather Abraham, the stories 105 00:06:27,840 --> 00:06:31,200 that he heard about his own father, Isaac and the things 106 00:06:31,200 --> 00:06:35,080 that he had done and the wonders that God had worked around and 107 00:06:35,080 --> 00:06:38,160 through him. And here's Jacob running for his 108 00:06:38,160 --> 00:06:42,000 life, having been told by his mom, hey, you're inheriting the 109 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:45,000 covenant, the promise that God made to your grandfather and 110 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:47,800 your father. And, and, and he's, but he's 111 00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:50,400 done these things. He's, he's, he's cheated his 112 00:06:50,400 --> 00:06:52,120 brother, he's stolen from his brother. 113 00:06:52,120 --> 00:06:54,760 He's lied to his father. Now he's on the run. 114 00:06:54,760 --> 00:06:57,520 And maybe he's wondering, have I blown it? 115 00:06:58,320 --> 00:07:02,000 Am I out that I disqualify myself sometime? 116 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:05,840 We don't really know what was going on in his mind, only his 117 00:07:06,040 --> 00:07:09,560 present circumstances. But they're in the midst of 118 00:07:09,560 --> 00:07:12,720 this, in the midst of running away, in the midst of camping 119 00:07:12,720 --> 00:07:16,640 out by himself in the wilderness with no one to protect him, no 120 00:07:16,640 --> 00:07:19,840 one to watch his back, no one to keep watch at night while he's 121 00:07:19,840 --> 00:07:22,320 sleeping. Nothing to lie on, nothing to 122 00:07:22,320 --> 00:07:24,280 pillow his head but the ground and a rock. 123 00:07:25,280 --> 00:07:31,360 And God says, Jacob, Jacob, this land that you're lying on now, 124 00:07:32,720 --> 00:07:36,200 it's all going to belong to you. The covenant I made with 125 00:07:36,200 --> 00:07:39,640 Abraham, the covenant made with Isaac, I make with you. 126 00:07:40,280 --> 00:07:43,920 This land will be yours and your descendants forever. 127 00:07:44,640 --> 00:07:48,440 You'll have descendants that that spread numerous as the 128 00:07:48,440 --> 00:07:51,200 stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. 129 00:07:51,400 --> 00:07:57,960 All of this I promise to you. And Jacob woke from that dream 130 00:07:58,560 --> 00:08:03,600 with hope. A vision of the future that 131 00:08:03,600 --> 00:08:08,200 didn't include him running for his life with no one to watch 132 00:08:08,200 --> 00:08:11,280 his back and nothing to cover him as he slept on the ground. 133 00:08:12,600 --> 00:08:15,520 A vision of God providing and caring. 134 00:08:15,680 --> 00:08:18,960 A vision of a legacy of descendants, of people who would 135 00:08:18,960 --> 00:08:23,400 follow after him and come through him and be a blessing to 136 00:08:23,400 --> 00:08:27,720 the world. His circumstances, his present 137 00:08:27,720 --> 00:08:30,840 circumstances, had not changed 1 little bit. 138 00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:32,600 He was still alone in the wilderness. 139 00:08:32,600 --> 00:08:34,600 He still had nothing to cover himself. 140 00:08:34,760 --> 00:08:36,799 He still had no one to watch his back. 141 00:08:36,799 --> 00:08:39,960 He was still going to a place where he had never been before 142 00:08:40,080 --> 00:08:42,280 to seek help from people that he had never met. 143 00:08:42,440 --> 00:08:47,600 But now he had hope. He had this hope, this dream of 144 00:08:47,600 --> 00:08:51,240 a future that was given to him by God. 145 00:08:52,920 --> 00:08:56,120 There's power in that. There's power in a God-given 146 00:08:56,120 --> 00:08:58,600 dream. There's hope in a God-given 147 00:08:58,600 --> 00:09:01,520 dream. There are dangers in a God-given 148 00:09:01,520 --> 00:09:05,080 dream as well. And we have to be aware of those 149 00:09:05,080 --> 00:09:11,280 risks because when these dreams come, we can. 150 00:09:12,040 --> 00:09:13,480 I'm going to make sure. I might have forgotten 151 00:09:13,480 --> 00:09:16,600 something. Nope, I didn't forget. 152 00:09:17,360 --> 00:09:18,880 I just moved it. That's all right. 153 00:09:18,880 --> 00:09:22,560 I was like, oh, OK, forget that. I didn't forget the dangers in a 154 00:09:22,560 --> 00:09:25,080 God-given dream. There's a couple. 155 00:09:25,520 --> 00:09:28,760 One of the dangers in a God-given dream is when we get 156 00:09:28,760 --> 00:09:32,040 that dream and when, whether we hear it directly from God itself 157 00:09:32,040 --> 00:09:35,000 or whether someone else is sharing their dream like Martin 158 00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:39,240 Luther King Junior did 1963. Part of the reason we have the 159 00:09:39,240 --> 00:09:44,760 celebration and the holiday this weekend, that that dream that 160 00:09:44,760 --> 00:09:49,280 comes from God, there's power in it, there's hope in it. 161 00:09:49,640 --> 00:09:53,240 But part of the danger in those kind of dreams is that rather 162 00:09:53,240 --> 00:09:57,200 than hearing it and receiving it as a dream and the hope that it 163 00:09:57,200 --> 00:10:02,440 gives as a promise from God, God gave I, God gave Jacob a promise 164 00:10:02,440 --> 00:10:06,960 in that dream of something that God would do in and through and 165 00:10:06,960 --> 00:10:10,600 for Jacob and his descendants. One of the dangers is, is when 166 00:10:10,600 --> 00:10:13,360 we take that dream and turn it into an assignment. 167 00:10:14,800 --> 00:10:17,640 I've got this dream. I have to make it happen. 168 00:10:18,160 --> 00:10:21,600 Human dreams are like that. When humans have dreams, whether 169 00:10:21,600 --> 00:10:25,000 whether you know, you're Elon Musk or or someone whose dreams 170 00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:28,160 are on a lot smaller scale, you got to dream about flying to 171 00:10:28,160 --> 00:10:30,480 Mars or a dream about owning your own home. 172 00:10:30,880 --> 00:10:35,360 When we have human level dreams, generally speaking, we have to 173 00:10:35,360 --> 00:10:37,040 work to make those things happen. 174 00:10:37,840 --> 00:10:41,520 Those kind of dreams, you know, are are assignments that we give 175 00:10:41,520 --> 00:10:45,720 ourselves to make something happen, to bring about the 176 00:10:45,720 --> 00:10:50,000 future that we are dreaming of. But when it's a God-given dream, 177 00:10:50,600 --> 00:10:54,120 that's not an assignment that we have to accomplish. 178 00:10:55,720 --> 00:10:58,960 If Jacob had woken up from that saying, all right, I got to get 179 00:10:58,960 --> 00:11:00,520 a bunch of land. I got to figure out how am I 180 00:11:00,520 --> 00:11:03,520 going to buy all this land? Or maybe I should raise an army 181 00:11:03,640 --> 00:11:06,840 and conquer this land. And I got to start having a lot 182 00:11:06,840 --> 00:11:08,360 of kids. He did end up having a lot of 183 00:11:08,360 --> 00:11:10,000 kids. If I'm going to have all of 184 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:13,560 these descendants in these future generations, what do I 185 00:11:13,560 --> 00:11:20,280 need to do to make this happen? Now suddenly, Now suddenly Jacob 186 00:11:20,480 --> 00:11:24,120 is setting on a trajectory to try to accomplish for himself 187 00:11:24,280 --> 00:11:26,280 what God has said he's going to do. 188 00:11:27,040 --> 00:11:30,920 And anytime we put ourselves in God's shoes and try to 189 00:11:30,920 --> 00:11:34,760 accomplish for ourselves what only God can accomplish and what 190 00:11:34,760 --> 00:11:38,560 God has in fact promised to accomplish, we tend to just get 191 00:11:38,560 --> 00:11:42,480 in the way of what God is doing. Doesn't necessarily keep God 192 00:11:42,480 --> 00:11:46,800 from doing it, but it can make our life and the lives of the 193 00:11:46,800 --> 00:11:50,160 people around us a whole lot more stressful and a whole lot 194 00:11:50,160 --> 00:11:51,880 more of a headache than it needed to be. 195 00:11:53,080 --> 00:11:55,680 I think that's a little bit of why Jacob was on the run. 196 00:11:57,600 --> 00:12:00,280 His mother, Rebecca, had this vision that she probably shared 197 00:12:00,280 --> 00:12:02,640 with Jacob. AI know you're the second born. 198 00:12:02,800 --> 00:12:05,960 I know the first born inherits the the, the covenant and 199 00:12:05,960 --> 00:12:08,600 inherits the blessing, but God told me you're going to inherit 200 00:12:08,600 --> 00:12:11,800 that. And then they proceeded to get 201 00:12:11,800 --> 00:12:18,040 to those things through deceit, through lies, through treachery. 202 00:12:20,040 --> 00:12:26,040 And now their family is divided and at war with itself, trying 203 00:12:26,040 --> 00:12:30,480 to make happen what God has promised He will do. 204 00:12:31,840 --> 00:12:36,760 So when we hear these dreams, our job isn't to make them 205 00:12:36,760 --> 00:12:39,360 happen. The church has messed this up so 206 00:12:39,360 --> 00:12:41,960 many times in so many ways throughout history. 207 00:12:42,520 --> 00:12:46,240 We read the Book of Revelation of how God gathers his armies 208 00:12:46,240 --> 00:12:49,400 and God defeats the forces of the enemy, Satan, the beast, the 209 00:12:49,400 --> 00:12:51,520 dragon, however you want to name him. 210 00:12:52,200 --> 00:12:55,240 And we say, ah, that's what God wants us to do. 211 00:12:55,240 --> 00:12:58,920 Let's gather our armies and defeat the infidels, defeat the 212 00:12:58,920 --> 00:13:02,600 savages, kill the people that are heretics, all of these 213 00:13:02,600 --> 00:13:06,240 things to make God's Kingdom come on earth just as it is in 214 00:13:06,240 --> 00:13:08,520 heaven, like we pray about every Sunday. 215 00:13:08,760 --> 00:13:11,160 And that's not the way to do these things. 216 00:13:13,080 --> 00:13:16,560 God has promised one day Jesus will return. 217 00:13:16,680 --> 00:13:20,680 One day Jesus will establish his Kingdom in full view for 218 00:13:20,680 --> 00:13:24,720 everyone to see here on earth as it is in the heavens right now. 219 00:13:24,800 --> 00:13:28,320 One day that will happen. God has not given us the 220 00:13:28,360 --> 00:13:32,720 assignment of making it happen. And every time the church has 221 00:13:32,720 --> 00:13:36,520 taken that attitude, we have done awful, awful things in the 222 00:13:36,520 --> 00:13:43,840 world, things from crusades to genocides to, to torture to, to 223 00:13:44,720 --> 00:13:51,560 execute the attitude of Christians fighting Christians 224 00:13:51,560 --> 00:13:56,080 in Europe throughout the Middle Ages and, and into even into 225 00:13:56,080 --> 00:14:00,520 modernity of, of when we go into a town, we have to kill all of 226 00:14:00,520 --> 00:14:03,040 the heretics. Or what if we kill some actual 227 00:14:03,040 --> 00:14:04,840 faithful believers in the process? 228 00:14:05,040 --> 00:14:08,160 And the policy was kill them all and let God sort them out 229 00:14:09,320 --> 00:14:12,520 because we've got to make God's Kingdom come. 230 00:14:13,160 --> 00:14:17,760 We've got to make sure that God's will is done on earth as 231 00:14:17,760 --> 00:14:21,960 it is in heaven. Those are extreme examples, but 232 00:14:21,960 --> 00:14:26,120 we can do similar things in much smaller ways that are still very 233 00:14:26,120 --> 00:14:30,480 hurtful and destructive. When we have the hope of a 234 00:14:30,480 --> 00:14:35,840 God-given dream, our hope should not be in our capacity to make 235 00:14:35,840 --> 00:14:40,040 it come true, but in God's faithfulness and God's power and 236 00:14:40,040 --> 00:14:42,680 God's willingness to make it come true. 237 00:14:45,120 --> 00:14:48,800 That's the power and the danger of a God-given dream. 238 00:14:49,680 --> 00:14:51,280 We're going to avoid those dangers. 239 00:14:51,880 --> 00:14:53,120 We're going to avoid those dangers. 240 00:14:53,120 --> 00:14:56,200 We do need to know what is our part of it. 241 00:14:57,200 --> 00:15:01,040 I mean, God didn't just give a dream just to make Jacob feel 242 00:15:01,040 --> 00:15:06,520 good, just to make Jacob, you know, happier about his present 243 00:15:06,520 --> 00:15:08,960 situation. It wasn't simply an act of 244 00:15:08,960 --> 00:15:10,720 comfort. I don't think God-given dreams 245 00:15:10,720 --> 00:15:14,840 are just acts of comfort. If we're going to avoid these 246 00:15:14,840 --> 00:15:17,320 dangers, one of the things we need to do is look at the other 247 00:15:17,320 --> 00:15:20,760 part of the God-given dream, which is purpose. 248 00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:27,640 Purpose. By having that dream, Jacob 249 00:15:27,800 --> 00:15:33,000 could see that God's plan, God's purpose for him was more than 250 00:15:33,000 --> 00:15:36,080 just him living his life and doing his thing. 251 00:15:37,560 --> 00:15:41,960 He was part of a bigger story. His life was going someplace and 252 00:15:41,960 --> 00:15:45,240 the trajectory of his life was not was going to extend not just 253 00:15:45,240 --> 00:15:48,640 to the to the point where he breathed his final breath, but 254 00:15:48,640 --> 00:15:52,520 beyond that for generations and generations and generations. 255 00:15:53,920 --> 00:15:55,760 God-given dreams give us purpose. 256 00:15:55,920 --> 00:16:01,080 They help us find our place in the story and see the kinds of 257 00:16:01,080 --> 00:16:05,120 things that we need to do. Now one of the other dangers I 258 00:16:05,120 --> 00:16:07,600 should have mentioned this under the danger slide of a God-given 259 00:16:07,600 --> 00:16:11,640 dream particular if we take it as an assignment is that that it 260 00:16:11,640 --> 00:16:14,720 can become overwhelming. I can never do that. 261 00:16:15,400 --> 00:16:17,520 I can never accomplish that. Jacob could have been 262 00:16:17,520 --> 00:16:21,560 overwhelmed by that dream. God, how can I ever possess all 263 00:16:21,560 --> 00:16:25,120 of this land when I'm all alone? I don't have kids, I don't have 264 00:16:25,120 --> 00:16:27,080 an army, I don't have anything, I don't have the money. 265 00:16:27,200 --> 00:16:29,760 How am I going to do this? And my own brother's trying to 266 00:16:29,760 --> 00:16:31,960 kill me. I can't even take, you know, 267 00:16:31,960 --> 00:16:34,920 over the inheritance that now belongs to me. 268 00:16:35,560 --> 00:16:37,160 How can I get all of this other way? 269 00:16:38,680 --> 00:16:42,440 We could be paralyzed by a dream that's overwhelming if we think 270 00:16:42,440 --> 00:16:44,600 it's our responsibility to fulfill it. 271 00:16:45,200 --> 00:16:50,840 There was a monastic desert father, early Christian 272 00:16:50,840 --> 00:16:54,480 monastics before the church split into Catholic and 273 00:16:54,480 --> 00:16:56,000 Protestant and all of this kind of stuff. 274 00:16:56,240 --> 00:17:00,400 There were a group of men and women that went off into the 275 00:17:00,400 --> 00:17:03,320 wilderness. They did this after Christianity 276 00:17:03,320 --> 00:17:08,200 became legalized and and for the 1st 400 years of Christianity, 277 00:17:08,400 --> 00:17:10,720 being a Christian was a risky proposition. 278 00:17:11,560 --> 00:17:13,520 There was not constant persecution. 279 00:17:13,520 --> 00:17:16,760 Christians weren't constantly hiding from Romans or from 280 00:17:16,760 --> 00:17:21,839 others, but there was periodic persecution and there was often 281 00:17:21,839 --> 00:17:24,200 social problems and social outcast. 282 00:17:24,400 --> 00:17:27,440 And it was to become a Christian, it cost you. 283 00:17:27,599 --> 00:17:31,400 In those days you, you would lose respect, you would lose 284 00:17:31,400 --> 00:17:34,560 status in society, you would lose some relationships, you 285 00:17:34,560 --> 00:17:36,800 would lose some position. It cost you. 286 00:17:36,800 --> 00:17:38,960 And at times it could cost you your own life. 287 00:17:39,160 --> 00:17:43,040 And then the emperor converted to Christianity and Christianity 288 00:17:43,040 --> 00:17:45,840 became the the dominant and preferred religion of the 289 00:17:45,840 --> 00:17:48,920 empire. And now becoming a Christian got 290 00:17:48,920 --> 00:17:53,920 you something in a temporal sense beyond being part of God's 291 00:17:53,920 --> 00:17:56,200 family. It got social blessing and 292 00:17:56,200 --> 00:17:58,880 social approval and opportunities for social 293 00:17:58,880 --> 00:18:02,320 advancement. And and there was a whoa, boy, I 294 00:18:02,320 --> 00:18:04,760 hope I didn't break that. There was a movement within the 295 00:18:04,760 --> 00:18:10,680 church at that time that said some people felt we still need 296 00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:18,080 to show the world that following Jesus costs you and and some 297 00:18:18,080 --> 00:18:21,760 men, some women, some on their own, some in groups, went out to 298 00:18:21,760 --> 00:18:27,760 live lives of severe self-discipline and personal 299 00:18:27,760 --> 00:18:30,840 deprivation. They never claimed that was 300 00:18:30,840 --> 00:18:33,360 God's call for everyone. In fact, most people that came 301 00:18:33,360 --> 00:18:36,200 and said hey, I want to join you, they would talk them out of 302 00:18:36,200 --> 00:18:38,280 it and say no, you really don't want to join me. 303 00:18:38,320 --> 00:18:41,640 This isn't for everyone. This is, you know, unless God's 304 00:18:41,640 --> 00:18:43,840 called you to it, that you don't even want to try it. 305 00:18:44,560 --> 00:18:47,720 And, and they, there's a lot of surviving stories from those 306 00:18:47,720 --> 00:18:50,240 folks and, and they're, some of them are really, really cool. 307 00:18:50,240 --> 00:18:51,480 And this is one of those stories. 308 00:18:51,480 --> 00:18:56,560 It was about a father who was a landowner and, and he had 309 00:18:56,560 --> 00:18:58,520 purchased a new piece of property. 310 00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:01,840 And that property was covered with thorns and briars. 311 00:19:01,840 --> 00:19:03,600 It was a large piece of property. 312 00:19:03,600 --> 00:19:07,160 It was adjacent but distant from where they lived, adjacent to 313 00:19:07,160 --> 00:19:09,200 the land they owned, but distant from where they lived. 314 00:19:09,560 --> 00:19:13,160 And he gave his son, who was becoming an adult, the 315 00:19:13,160 --> 00:19:15,560 assignment of clearing that property. 316 00:19:16,280 --> 00:19:18,200 You got to go in. You got to clear out all of the 317 00:19:18,200 --> 00:19:19,480 thorns. You got to clear out all of the 318 00:19:19,480 --> 00:19:21,840 briars. So it becomes arable land. 319 00:19:21,840 --> 00:19:24,880 Whether they wanted to graze on it or plant crops on it, I don't 320 00:19:24,880 --> 00:19:26,520 know. But he needed to clear it. 321 00:19:27,400 --> 00:19:29,840 And the son went out. He was proud to receive the 322 00:19:29,840 --> 00:19:31,520 assignment. He was glad to do it. 323 00:19:31,720 --> 00:19:33,840 He walked to the edge of that property. 324 00:19:33,840 --> 00:19:37,160 He got there. He looked out from a hilltop and 325 00:19:37,160 --> 00:19:41,200 saw this vast stretch of land absolutely covered in briars and 326 00:19:41,200 --> 00:19:44,720 thorns. You know, I just got to get to 327 00:19:44,760 --> 00:19:47,920 it. And he spent an entire day 328 00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:53,360 clearing land. And at the end of the day, he 329 00:19:53,360 --> 00:20:02,720 had a space that was about, you know, 6 by 610, by 10, not very 330 00:20:02,720 --> 00:20:06,080 big at all. He worked hard. 331 00:20:06,600 --> 00:20:12,040 He worked hard and he was overwhelmed. 332 00:20:13,680 --> 00:20:15,080 He said, I'm never going to get this done. 333 00:20:15,720 --> 00:20:17,960 I'm never going to get it done. He went back home. 334 00:20:17,960 --> 00:20:21,200 His dad asked him how it went when great dad, he slept that 335 00:20:21,200 --> 00:20:22,880 night. The next day he went back out 336 00:20:22,880 --> 00:20:25,520 and he got there and he looked around again and he said there's 337 00:20:25,520 --> 00:20:29,360 no way. And he was so overwhelmed by how 338 00:20:29,360 --> 00:20:33,360 big the project was that he found himself immobilized. 339 00:20:33,560 --> 00:20:36,400 And instead of spending the day working, he laid down on that 340 00:20:36,400 --> 00:20:37,960 patch that he cleared the day before. 341 00:20:37,960 --> 00:20:42,960 And he went to sleep. And he did that day after day 342 00:20:43,040 --> 00:20:48,680 after day, week after week after week, for months. 343 00:20:50,040 --> 00:20:54,040 And then to his horror, one day when he got up, his dad said to 344 00:20:54,040 --> 00:20:56,920 him at breakfast, hey, I'm going to come out and check and see 345 00:20:56,920 --> 00:21:00,760 how things are going. And the son knew he was in 346 00:21:00,760 --> 00:21:02,240 trouble. And he walked out and he was 347 00:21:02,240 --> 00:21:04,280 trembling all the way and he wasn't talking. 348 00:21:04,280 --> 00:21:06,200 And he was. And they got out there and the 349 00:21:06,200 --> 00:21:10,240 father looked out and saw this vast stretch of land still 350 00:21:10,240 --> 00:21:13,280 covered in briars except for one small patch on the edge. 351 00:21:14,880 --> 00:21:18,120 He looked at his son. What happened? 352 00:21:19,200 --> 00:21:24,080 His son told him it was so big I was overwhelmed. 353 00:21:24,880 --> 00:21:27,280 And so I've just been coming here every day and sleeping. 354 00:21:28,040 --> 00:21:32,840 And his dad said to him, Son, don't you know that if you had 355 00:21:32,840 --> 00:21:38,320 just cleared a patch big enough to sleep on every day that you 356 00:21:38,320 --> 00:21:47,640 would be done by now? That's our role too, as we read 357 00:21:47,640 --> 00:21:52,000 about God's Kingdom coming and God's will being done on this 358 00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:58,000 earth as it is in heaven. That's our role, to do just 359 00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:02,640 enough work every day to make just enough progress every day 360 00:22:03,280 --> 00:22:09,840 that we can lay down and sleep at night and rest and be ready 361 00:22:09,840 --> 00:22:15,760 for more work the next day. There's another dream that, and 362 00:22:15,760 --> 00:22:19,160 I mentioned it before, Martin Luther King Junior's I have a 363 00:22:19,160 --> 00:22:21,720 dream speech is famous. I'm going to read a portion of 364 00:22:21,720 --> 00:22:25,040 that here today. And it's it's an extended quote. 365 00:22:25,040 --> 00:22:27,400 It won't take too long, but I want to read it and I'm not even 366 00:22:27,400 --> 00:22:29,920 going to try. I'm not going to try to imitate 367 00:22:30,160 --> 00:22:33,040 King's cadences or delivery. I'm just going to read you the 368 00:22:33,040 --> 00:22:38,400 words I say today, my friends. So even though we face the 369 00:22:38,400 --> 00:22:42,400 difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. 370 00:22:43,040 --> 00:22:45,600 It is a dream deeply rooted in the American Dream. 371 00:22:45,600 --> 00:22:49,480 I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out 372 00:22:49,480 --> 00:22:52,760 the true meaning of its creed. We hold these truths to be 373 00:22:52,760 --> 00:22:55,520 self-evident, that all men are created equal. 374 00:22:56,200 --> 00:22:59,360 I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the 375 00:22:59,360 --> 00:23:02,960 sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will 376 00:23:02,960 --> 00:23:05,760 be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. 377 00:23:06,320 --> 00:23:08,600 I have a dream that one day, even in the state of 378 00:23:09,120 --> 00:23:12,800 Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, 379 00:23:13,080 --> 00:23:16,760 sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed 380 00:23:16,760 --> 00:23:19,120 into an Oasis of Freedom and Justice. 381 00:23:19,840 --> 00:23:22,840 I have a dream that my 4 little children will one day live in a 382 00:23:22,840 --> 00:23:25,920 nation where they will not be judged by the color of their 383 00:23:25,920 --> 00:23:28,760 skin, but by the content of their character. 384 00:23:29,360 --> 00:23:33,200 I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day down 385 00:23:33,200 --> 00:23:36,880 in Alabama, with its vicious racist, with its governor having 386 00:23:36,880 --> 00:23:40,000 his lips dripping with the words of interposition and 387 00:23:40,000 --> 00:23:44,120 nullification, one day right there and Alabama, little black 388 00:23:44,120 --> 00:23:47,440 boys and little black girls will be able to join hands with 389 00:23:47,440 --> 00:23:50,440 little white boys and little white girls as sisters and 390 00:23:50,440 --> 00:23:53,120 brothers. I have a dream today. 391 00:23:53,800 --> 00:23:56,840 I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, 392 00:23:57,040 --> 00:24:00,680 every hill and mountain shall be made low, The rough places will 393 00:24:00,680 --> 00:24:03,960 be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, 394 00:24:03,960 --> 00:24:07,000 and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed in all flesh. 395 00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:09,280 Shall see, shall see it together. 396 00:24:09,960 --> 00:24:13,280 This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back 397 00:24:13,280 --> 00:24:16,000 to the South with. With this faith, we will be able 398 00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:19,400 to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. 399 00:24:19,760 --> 00:24:23,360 With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling 400 00:24:23,360 --> 00:24:26,640 discords of our nation into a beautiful Symphony of 401 00:24:26,640 --> 00:24:29,640 brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able 402 00:24:29,640 --> 00:24:32,680 to work together to pray together, to struggle together, 403 00:24:32,680 --> 00:24:36,280 to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing 404 00:24:36,280 --> 00:24:41,160 that we will be free one day. This will be the day when all of 405 00:24:41,160 --> 00:24:43,880 God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning. 406 00:24:44,080 --> 00:24:48,560 My country tis of thee, sweet land of liberty of thee I sing. 407 00:24:49,280 --> 00:24:53,160 Land where my father's died, Land of the pilgrims, pride from 408 00:24:53,160 --> 00:24:55,520 every mountainside. Let freedom ring. 409 00:24:56,320 --> 00:25:00,120 And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. 410 00:25:00,640 --> 00:25:03,520 And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we 411 00:25:03,520 --> 00:25:06,880 let it ring from every village and every hamlet and every state 412 00:25:06,880 --> 00:25:11,200 and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of 413 00:25:11,200 --> 00:25:14,840 God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, 414 00:25:14,840 --> 00:25:18,360 Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing 415 00:25:18,360 --> 00:25:20,480 the words of the old Negro spiritual. 416 00:25:20,720 --> 00:25:25,520 Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free 417 00:25:25,520 --> 00:25:32,880 at last. These dreams, Jacob's dream, 418 00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:37,800 like King's dream, was a massive big project. 419 00:25:39,160 --> 00:25:43,160 And a big step was taken in 1963 with the passage of the Civil 420 00:25:43,160 --> 00:25:46,560 Rights Act. And things are much better now 421 00:25:46,560 --> 00:25:50,360 than they used to be. But there's still work to do. 422 00:25:51,080 --> 00:25:53,400 There's still division, there's still hostility. 423 00:25:53,720 --> 00:25:58,320 There's still the fighting of person against person along this 424 00:25:58,320 --> 00:26:02,640 line and that line. And, and you know, just hearing 425 00:26:02,640 --> 00:26:08,120 folks talk about that this morning, not necessarily on 426 00:26:08,120 --> 00:26:11,680 racial division, but in all of the division that there is in 427 00:26:11,680 --> 00:26:14,320 our country right now. All of the hatred, all of the 428 00:26:14,320 --> 00:26:18,280 hostility, all of the fear, all of the anxiety, this ongoing 429 00:26:18,280 --> 00:26:21,160 sense of hopelessness of how can we get better? 430 00:26:21,160 --> 00:26:25,080 How can we improve? How can we claim that that one 431 00:26:25,080 --> 00:26:29,000 day God's Kingdom is coming and God's will will be done here on 432 00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:35,800 earth just like it is in heaven. We can claim it because God has 433 00:26:35,800 --> 00:26:39,600 promised it. We can believe it because God 434 00:26:39,600 --> 00:26:44,520 has promised it and and we can't make it happen. 435 00:26:46,600 --> 00:26:48,360 We can't, we can't make it happen. 436 00:26:48,360 --> 00:26:51,240 We can't force other people to live into it. 437 00:26:52,240 --> 00:26:59,800 All we can do, all we can do is do our work on a daily basis. 438 00:27:00,920 --> 00:27:04,480 The little things that God puts in front of us, loving our 439 00:27:04,480 --> 00:27:08,080 neighbor is ourself. Showing compassion and kindness 440 00:27:08,240 --> 00:27:10,600 to others even if they're different than we are. 441 00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:15,400 Responding to hatred with love. Responding to hostility with 442 00:27:15,400 --> 00:27:18,640 compassion. Responding to antagonism with 443 00:27:18,640 --> 00:27:21,080 kindness. Just like Jesus did. 444 00:27:23,120 --> 00:27:26,160 And is any one of those acts going to change the world? 445 00:27:26,400 --> 00:27:32,120 No, no, but as followers of Jesus we were. 446 00:27:32,120 --> 00:27:34,640 I did breakthrough remote control well, or at least I 447 00:27:34,640 --> 00:27:38,240 damaged it a little. Jesus is our purpose and our 448 00:27:38,240 --> 00:27:42,280 hope. The covenant God made with Jacob 449 00:27:42,280 --> 00:27:44,640 is not the same covenant that God made with us. 450 00:27:44,800 --> 00:27:47,720 God made a land covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with 451 00:27:47,720 --> 00:27:50,440 Jacob. God promised real estate. 452 00:27:51,720 --> 00:27:56,600 God has promised us life eternal, no matter what the 453 00:27:56,600 --> 00:28:01,960 people of this world do to us. God has promised us Jesus is 454 00:28:01,960 --> 00:28:06,200 Lord and King forever, and one day his Kingdom will come and 455 00:28:06,200 --> 00:28:09,360 his will will be done on this earth as it is in heaven. 456 00:28:09,560 --> 00:28:12,800 Jesus is our purpose and Jesus is our promise. 457 00:28:12,880 --> 00:28:16,560 So we like Nathaniel, we like Peter, we like all of those 458 00:28:16,560 --> 00:28:20,800 other disciples, Mary and, and Joseph and James and who all of 459 00:28:20,800 --> 00:28:23,040 these other folks that we're following after Jesus. 460 00:28:25,120 --> 00:28:30,600 Our purpose, our hope is Jesus to follow in his footsteps, to 461 00:28:30,600 --> 00:28:34,360 live as much as possible that we can like he lived. 462 00:28:34,560 --> 00:28:37,720 And sometimes that's going to involve some dramatic action 463 00:28:37,840 --> 00:28:42,520 with great risk and, and, and, and, and, and occasionally maybe 464 00:28:42,520 --> 00:28:45,880 even spectacular results. But most of the time it's just 465 00:28:45,880 --> 00:28:53,760 going to be the day-to-day stuff done in the name of Jesus with 466 00:28:53,760 --> 00:28:57,920 an eye toward the future that God has promised as we share 467 00:28:57,920 --> 00:29:01,960 love and compassion in simple ways with ourselves and with the 468 00:29:01,960 --> 00:29:05,200 people around us. In Jesus name, Amen. 469 00:29:05,680 --> 00:29:08,280 Amen. Oh, oh, I forgot, I forgot to go 470 00:29:08,280 --> 00:29:14,160 back. I take back the amens, Niemeh. 471 00:29:14,520 --> 00:29:16,480 I guess that's Amen backwards. There we go. 472 00:29:18,600 --> 00:29:23,360 You will see Jesus said this. You will see heaven open up in 473 00:29:23,360 --> 00:29:26,960 the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. 474 00:29:27,880 --> 00:29:33,720 Jesus was referencing eyes or Jacob's dream at that moment 475 00:29:34,680 --> 00:29:37,440 when he was talking to that brand new person, his brand new 476 00:29:37,440 --> 00:29:41,120 disciple, just first committed to five, just signed up for the 477 00:29:41,120 --> 00:29:44,360 job. And you will see the angels of 478 00:29:44,360 --> 00:29:47,360 God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. 479 00:29:48,280 --> 00:29:50,040 But he tweaked the dream a little bit. 480 00:29:51,680 --> 00:29:56,360 Jesus is the latter. Jesus is now the gateway, the 481 00:29:56,360 --> 00:29:58,320 one that connects heaven and earth. 482 00:30:00,400 --> 00:30:03,680 Jesus is the one. That will bring heaven to earth 483 00:30:03,680 --> 00:30:07,360 and will bring earth into heaven, if we. 484 00:30:07,360 --> 00:30:11,360 Keep our focus on. Him and keep Him as our purpose 485 00:30:11,560 --> 00:30:15,000 and Him as our hope and day-to-day follow Him, because 486 00:30:15,000 --> 00:30:19,320 even small acts of justice, mercy and love reveal the truth 487 00:30:19,320 --> 00:30:22,880 and goodness of Christ's Kingdom and a broken world. 488 00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:26,360 Now Jesus name, Amen. Amen. 489 00:30:26,360 --> 00:30:29,240 Let's stand sing together. My hope is built. 490 00:30:34,120 --> 00:30:43,880 Fixed. My hope is. 491 00:30:43,880 --> 00:30:47,880 Built. On nothing less than Jesus blood 492 00:30:48,120 --> 00:30:51,080 and righteousness I cannot trust. 493 00:30:52,080 --> 00:30:55,000 Sweet as framed, but wholly lean. 494 00:30:55,000 --> 00:30:59,680 On Jesus name on. Christ the solid. 495 00:30:59,680 --> 00:31:07,160 Rock I stand on the ground is sinked all up sinking. 496 00:31:07,160 --> 00:31:09,200 Sand. When? 497 00:31:09,200 --> 00:31:12,080 Darkness. Veils his lovely face. 498 00:31:12,320 --> 00:31:16,840 I rest on His unchanging grace in every. 499 00:31:16,840 --> 00:31:21,840 High and stormy Gale. My anchor holds within. 500 00:31:21,840 --> 00:31:24,440 The. Veil on Christ the. 501 00:31:24,440 --> 00:31:26,640 Solid. Rock, I stand. 502 00:31:27,080 --> 00:31:30,160 All other ground is sinking sand. 503 00:31:30,560 --> 00:31:33,520 All other ground is sinking sand. 504 00:31:34,920 --> 00:31:39,520 His oath is. Coven and his blood support me 505 00:31:39,520 --> 00:31:45,280 in the whelming flood, when all around the soul gives way. 506 00:31:45,280 --> 00:31:50,560 Heathen is all my hope and stay on Christ the. 507 00:31:50,560 --> 00:31:52,800 Solid. Rock, I stand. 508 00:31:53,360 --> 00:31:56,360 All other ground is sinking sand. 509 00:31:56,640 --> 00:31:59,720 All other ground is sinking sand. 510 00:32:01,480 --> 00:32:07,480 And I shall come with trumpet. Sound O may I then in Him be 511 00:32:07,480 --> 00:32:12,600 found pressed in his righteousness alone, for us to 512 00:32:12,600 --> 00:32:16,680 stand before the throne on Christ the. 513 00:32:16,680 --> 00:32:22,320 Solid rock, I stand all. Other ground is sinking sand. 514 00:32:22,680 --> 00:32:25,720 All other ground is sinking sand. 515 00:32:31,520 --> 00:32:34,400 We have these God. Given dreams in front of us, 516 00:32:34,720 --> 00:32:38,160 even if we haven't dreamed of ourselves, those who have gone 517 00:32:38,160 --> 00:32:43,280 before us have. Jesus has given us this vision. 518 00:32:43,280 --> 00:32:46,800 This has given us this dream of God's Kingdom come, God's will 519 00:32:46,800 --> 00:32:49,320 be done. One of the terms Martin Luther 520 00:32:49,320 --> 00:32:52,800 King used for that was God's beloved community, that the 521 00:32:52,800 --> 00:32:54,960 earth becomes God's beloved community. 522 00:32:56,440 --> 00:33:00,600 The hope that we have is not in our capacity to make it happen, 523 00:33:00,840 --> 00:33:04,680 but in God's faithfulness to keep His promise that one day it 524 00:33:04,680 --> 00:33:08,000 will happen. In the meantime, we live into 525 00:33:08,000 --> 00:33:10,680 that hope. We live into that future by 526 00:33:10,680 --> 00:33:14,640 doing daily the things that Jesus taught us to do, loving 527 00:33:14,640 --> 00:33:18,760 our neighbor, loving God, serving others with compassion 528 00:33:18,760 --> 00:33:22,040 and kindness and gentleness. In Jesus name, Amen.